Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan Wednesday is issuing formal guidance to state and local police on immigration law.

The document outlines recent changes in federal and state policy. On the one hand is President Donald Trump’s January executive order meant to increase deportations. That’s juxtaposed against Illinois’ new so-called TRUST Act, meant to increase protections for immigrants without legal status.

The Illinois legislature this afternoon approved a major, bipartisan overhaul of the way Illinois funds public education.

Backers are calling it a landmark reform. It would focus state spending on areas with more students in poverty — though no school district would get less funding than it does today.Democratic state Senator Kimberly Lightford, from Chicago, says the change has been a long time in coming.

Hate crimes will be more punishable under a new law the governor signed this week.

The measure was a result of suggestions from the state’s bi-partisan Holocaust and Genocide Commission. It was introduced to the legislature well before the events in Charlottesville. However, State Representative Sara Feigenholtz, a Democrat from Chicago, says it sends a strong message to those considering acting out their hatred:

A political cartoon circulated by a conservative Illinois think tank with ties to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has triggered accusations of racism and insensitivity in the wake of the deadly rally attack in Virginia.